Friendship Dominates the First Half of the Story
I must confess, I’m not the biggest fan of Wicked. I did see it once when it came through Los Angeles, and I like some of the songs from the soundtrack, but I haven’t been as taken with it as so many other musical fans seem to be. As, I didn’t rush to the theater to see either part of the movie version. In fact, I just sat down to watch the first part of the movie this month. It’s about what I expected when I heard they were splitting it into two parts.
In case you aren’t familiar with the story, it tells the back story of Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo). While we get a few scenes of her childhood, the movie focuses on what happens to her when she arrives at Shiz College. While she’s just there to make sure her younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode) settles in okay, she catches the eye of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and finds herself rooming with Galinda (Ariana Grande). But the two roommates can’t stand each other. Will anything change their attitudes toward each other?
If you went to see this story on Broadway, you’d get everything in about two and a half hours. Maybe two hours forty-five minutes. That’s the entire story. This movie is that long, and we just get the first act. Now, I’ll admit, I didn’t see a lot that could be cut out. But it is still frustrating to know I’ve sat that long and we aren’t getting the entire story. Yes, they could have tightened up some of the reactions and asides, but it isn’t as bad as I expected.
Because, let’s be honest, that is definitely a cliffhanger ending. I’m glad I got to part two quickly.
The book and the stage musical based on it were on the forefront of the modern trend to rewrite the story of the villains and make them sympathetic characters. I don’t really remember what happens in the second half of the story, but what we see here thematically fits with what I remember. The story is as much about the power of perception and political power as it is about Elphaba and her being wicked. Having said that, the trend has been overdone, and I get the complaints that we can’t have evil villains anymore. As much as I enjoy exploring gray, we don’t need it for every villain.
Anyway, back to this movie in particular. One of the impressions I have with the stage version is that relationships change very quickly. Even with the added time for the movie, I felt like that was true here, too. Elphaba and Galinda go from enemies to besties pretty quickly. It makes the ending of this movie not have quite the punch it wants to have. But, I think to fully develop the relationship, we’d need a TV series. I know, I know, I shouldn’t suggest it. And I’m also the one complaining about this being split into two halves and then complaining that it doesn’t have enough material in it.
Now, this isn’t a slight on Cynthia Erivo or Ariana Grande. They do good jobs with the material they have. I enjoyed watching them and their relationship develop. And their singing is fantastic.
The same can’t be said for all of their costars. Some are great. Some are less so. It doesn’t help that some of these songs are really hard to sing.
Fans of the Broadway show will spot the original leads, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in an extended cameo. I’m wondering if there were another couple of cameos in that scene I missed. It was more than I expected them to get, and it was really fun.
The movie looks epic. The special effects work. There is plenty of color and wonder, as you’d expect from Oz. It might not quite have the full imagination I’d want, but it works well.
And the dance numbers are inventive and cinematic, which is always a plus when it comes to a movie musical for me.
I am glad I finally sat down to watch Wicked since I did enjoy it. I’m going to make watching part 2 a priority so I can conclude the story before too much time passes.
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